Belgium's most hated man, the convicted child rapist Marc Du-troux, insisted yesterday that he was protecting a schoolgirl from being killed when he abducted and serially abused her, as he clashed dramatically with his victim in court.
The former electrician, on trial over a horrific spate of killings in the mid-1990s, spoke out after 20-year-old Sabine Dardenne asked him why he did not hand her over to the alleged pedophile ring he claims was behind his actions.
"I have acknowledged my mistakes in this affair. I did not give her because I knew that she was going to be killed. When I stay with someone for a time, I end up becoming attached to them," he explained coldly.
PHOTO: EPA
Dardenne, appearing in court again a day after confronting her former tormentor face-to-face for the first time, reacted with barely disguised contempt to the claim.
"I am supposed to say thank-you, if I understand correctly," Dardenne replied, before asking presiding judge Stephane Goux to "make him be quiet."
Dutroux is on trial with three others including his ex-wife over the series of abductions, rapes and murders of girls in the mid-1990s which convulsed Belgium and shocked the world.
Dardenne was 12 years old when she was abducted near the southern town of Tournai on May 28, 1996. She was found on August 15 in a cellar of Dutroux's house in the southern city of Charleroi, along with Laetitia Delhez, who had been held for six days. Delhez was to give evidence later yesterday.
Dutroux, 47, said at the start of his trial last month that he abducted Dardenne on behalf of former businessman Michel Nihoul, who is also in the dock with him.
Dardenne, who has filed a civil lawsuit against Dutroux, on Monday gave the court a shocking account of her 80 days of sexual and other abuse at Dutroux's hands.
Dardenne regained her composure after an emotional start, asking Dutroux in a steady, challenging voice: "Why did you not liquidate me?"
"I acknowl-edge that I abused her. But for me there was never any question of liquidating her," Dutroux said on Monday.
Dardenne described how the manipulative Dutroux made her believe he was actually protecting her from a "wicked chief" who wanted to kill her. Dardenne said Dutroux convinced her that her parents had abandoned her after refusing to pay a ransom.
She said she even thanked him when stepping out of the concealed cell into the arms of a police officer on the day of her rescue.
Eight-year-olds Melissa Russo and Julie Lejeune allegedly died of starvation in Dutroux's squalid home near Charleroi while he was serving a prison sentence for a vehicle crime. It is alleged that two Flemish teenagers, An Marchal and Eefje Lambrecks, were also murdered. Dutroux blames his fellow defendants for their deaths.
Testimony from the two surviving victims is seen as crucial to an agonized and unfinished debate over whether the defendant was a "lone predator" or was part of a wider pedophile network, possibly involving leading figures from Belgian politics and society.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
RSS